Lack Of Direction Brings Ambivalence To `Stephen`

April 07, 1986|By Sid Smith, Entertainment writer.

``Sorrows of Stephen,`` a comedy by Peter Parnell now in revival at Pheasant Run Theatre, seems caught between two worlds and suffers because of it.

Much of the time, the play, about the romantic ups and downs of a young urbanite, is little more than a ``Love Boat`` sitcom. When one girlfriend walks out on him, Stephen (Jim Ortlieb), the hero, telephones the man she is supposedly moving in with, makes a few snide remarks--and then learns he has the wrong number. Hopeless.

On the other hand, ``Sorrows`` tries hard for city slickness and contemporary angst--it frequently plays like a poor man`s Christopher Durang. There are some cute and hilarious moments, especially in the second act, but for the most part it just isn`t funny or hip enough, a kind of weird hybrid boasting both the offbeat and the corny. As a comment on adultery and modern love, it`s a pleasant bundle of cliches.

But this production does its best and wins genuine sympathy in the bargain. Ortlieb is perfect--pleasant, earnest and easily the well-meaning young man Stephen is supposed to be. He is also inordinately quick, and his timing earns some of the evening`s bigger laughs. Beyond that, he has some amusing rubbery movements and an effective hangdog vulnerability--it isn`t hard to believe his Stephen is both a nice guy and a sort of gullible dupe.

Lucy Childs and Gerry Becker, who are real-life man and wife, play an engaged couple Stephen turns to for comfort--Childs` character ends up giving him too much. Their affair and its mix-up pretty much constitute the bulk of the play`s plot, such as it is, and Childs is deliciously earthy and sexy, comic without falling into cheap laughs or caricature. Becker is equally deft and human--gruff, unpredictable and riotously funny in the play`s best scene, in which he unsuspectingly discusses the affair with Stephen.

Lois Hall and Peter Van Wagner each take several character parts, mug roles mainly inserted for slapstick relief, which they provide. Hall stays more on target, whether playing a salacious waitress or Stephen`s goofy girlfriend. Wagner`s street bum is a bit much, but he`s funny as a

supercilious desk clerk and as an opera buff. The second-act scene in which his toupee is blown from his head during a concert hall melee is sharply handled.

B.J. Jones, a veteran actor himself, handles the directing chores, and he senses the best way to smooth over the comedy`s rough spots is rapidity. Making the most of Dan Rowley`s lushly colored, almost neo-psychedelic set, Jones zips his cast through it, as if acknowledging that the sooner it`s over, the better.

NOTE: ``Kicks & Co.,`` Columbia College`s production that was to have opened Saturday at the Getz Theater but was delayed, has now been canceled altogether.